When the expected life-cycle of a business is considered, one has enough good reasons to naturally place achieving sustainability as the top level objective in the agenda. Yet, only a few make it.
80% of the firms that are currently listed in “500 big companies” lists are expected to be out of the list in the next 10 years, as in the past 50 years. So the fittest not always survive.
Similarly, 80% of the start-ups / new businesses go out of business on average in just five years, without even a chance of growth.
The average lifespan of a company which was 65 years in the previous century is nowadays 12 years & is expected to decrease further going forward. This implies that new businesses somehow managing to survive have a limited time to grow & achieve a certain scale.
"...the fittest not always survive."
In summary, statistics clearly indicate that achieving sustainability at the firm level is not an easy job. Furthermore, it is not a coincidence that growing / developing & continuing or shortly sustainable businesses are the ones that are highly productive, profitable, and competitive.
Therefore, the question is simply how you will achieve sustainability at your business. And this is only possible by adopting a sustainable management approach.